The Corona Project By dontfreezethepizza Dec 29, 1957 Birth of the Project purpose of CORONA was to provide broad imagery coverage of the USSR to identify missile launch sites and production facilities. Feb 15, 1958 Eisenhower endorses project Jan 21, 1959 1st Test - Failure Was a failure Feb 28, 1959 Discoverer 1 was launched Apr 15, 1959 Discoverer ll goes into orbit and ejects a test capsule, but still a failure Jun 3, 1959 Discoverer lll, carrying four mice, crashes in the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff. Aug 18, 1960 The first successful recovery of film from space Feb 26, 1962 last launch under the Discoverer cover name was Discoverer 38 Aug 20, 1966 Soviet Long-Range Aviation Airfield Dec 8, 1966 Lop Nur nuclear test site in northwestern China Sep 25, 1967 Corona image of The Pentagon Aug 7, 1968 Best imagery to date on any KH-4 systems Feb 22, 1995 Project Declassified Jul 17, 1997 Mapping extent of changes in land May 5, 2006 Harvard uses photos to research prehistoric routes in Mesopotamia
